The Gillette Brothers, Guy and Pipp, are taking a break from their cattle ranch in Crockett, Texas to bring real live cowboy music to Berkeley. These gents are the genuine article, winners of the American Cowboy Culture Award for Western Music and two-time winners of the Will Rogers Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Advancement of Contemporary Cowboy Music. Accompanying themselves on guitars, banjos, harmonicas, tambourines, bones, and kazoos, Guy and Pipp tell stories of the Old West and sing classic cowboy songs interspersed with an occasional original. Their aim is to keep cowboy traditions alive, exploring the Celtic roots, country blues, and minstrel and medicine show songs that have influenced cowboy music, particularly during the trail-riding period of the late 1800s when the open range was flooded with folks from all over the world, including freed slaves and wannabe wranglers from Ireland, Scotland, and Mexico.

The brothers’ sixth and most recent album, Cowboys, Minstrels & Medicine Shows, won the Wrangler award in 2010 for best traditional western album. Guy and Pipp have won awards for their chuck wagon cooking as well! If you ever go to Crockett, you can check out their Camp Street Cafe & Store, but meantime, this is your chance to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when cowboys sat around the campfire and sang of bright stars and sweet smiles.